Monday, September 16, 2013

First Days of School.

We were ready for school to start this year. We were very done with this summer.

August camps were cancelled when we realized our scheduled Golf & Tennis camps at the ICC probably had a lot more to offer with two arms. And our plans for a second excursion to the beach just seemed way too expensive to have a cast to still worry about. The pool water in August is pretty cold due to falling evening temps which is still so surprising after living in Texas and enduring bathtub-like pools. We'd been on day trips to DC a hundred times already and as much as I love them, I just couldn't take another excursion for cupcakes. Our best friends who always joined us for spontaneous activities and kept both kids entertained had moved... So, August went from being fun-filled to filled with lots of time together at the house. Lots. Of. Time. Together.

By August, we had just run out of things to do and were bored. School needed to happen. And thankfully, it did.

Charlie had his Open House on the Friday before labor day. His teacher is lovely and bubbly and energetic. And after I spotted the posters on her wall that reminded the kids to be awesome, I fell quite in love with her.

Fourth Grade. FOURTH GRADE. These kids are like, ONE grade away from being the oldest kids at school. Their classrooms are in the same hall as the fifth graders. They have THREE teachers to switch classes daily for different instruction. And they're all so tall that they basically look me in the eye. It is FREAKY!!!

Charlie was so mad at me for making him wear a collared shirt and boat shoes. He hates when I make him dress "handsome". #meanmom
On his first day of school, I took his picture on the driveway - front and back - like we do every year. It's unbelievable how big he looks now.
The following week, it was Henry's turn!!

Last year, I didn't take the front and back first day pictures of him and honestly, wasn't planning to do it this year either. I figured I'd wait for kindergarten. But Henry sees everything his brother does and walked out to the driveway and stood in the exact same spot as Charlie had and got ready for his pictures! So, of course, how could I resist!?
Once at school, Henry found his best friend, Max, and they spent time coloring and staring at the kids who were crying. They love each other and they love school. It's adorable.
Henry's preschool class is FOURTEEN BOYS and two little girls. Most of the boys in his class are Henry's buddies and they have all been together for two years at this school. Several of the moms and I have become very good friends so we *might* have made plans to get Starbucks and show up to registration day VERY early to make sure all of us the kids were together again.

The 3-year-old class is a co-op which means that every day there is a volunteer parent helping in the classroom. It works out to about once-a-month, I get to stay at school and help out. I ended up with having a "shift" on the first week of school and as much as I feared I'd feel stuck at school when I really wanted to be running errands alone, I LOVED IT!! It was so much fun to watch Henry, his buddies, and all of our new friends for a whole day. They sing songs and learn about the calendar and they all have little jobs like "lunch helper" and "door holder" -- and oddly, these little people are very good at handling all of these things!! It's so cute. I just ate it up.

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1 comment:

Don't know why this makes me want to cry. But it does. The pictures are gorgeous...you so capture their spirit....but your writing gives me the backstory...so even without the pictures, I can visualize it. As your mother and their grandmother, I am a proud woman. You are such a good mother and person!!